Walking in the Air
by Tiian
Summary: A piece of weirdness. AM stuff, very weird and short.


I just had to finish this, I couldn't continue any other fic until I did this. Now I can return to the World without an image-fic or some other. One less to worry about.  
I may revise this piece of weirdness some day.   
  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own RK. And I don't make any profit with this.  
  
  
Walking in the Air  
  
  
"Haven't you ever heard of her? She is the leading violin player in the world!" the man spoke with passion in his voice. "She has won countless contests, got tons of awards and now she will be in here! In Japan! This is amazing! I may be able to see her! She is a genius! She has played violin only for six years and she is sooo good!"  
Omasu and Okon glanced at each other. Was this man for real?   
  
  
  
The woman they saw took their breaths away. She had a long, thick black hair that cascaded beautifully down her back. Her face was very pale, the hair and her big, almost black, blue eyes created a high contrast to her skin. She was wearing white clothing that revealed her lithe, small body. Her legs and arms seemed very long despite the fact that she was short. She was very ghostly but still very beautiful. Her rose red painted lips curved into a small smile and she bowed to them gracefully. She was small and defenceless, weak you could say.  
"Konnichi wa."  
  
  
  
She sat in the garden, her violin in her lap, unplayed. Her eyes were looking at the sky, seeking for something long forgotten. She seemed to emit sadness and longing, longing for something beyond their understanding. She sighed and her eyes left the beautiful midnight sky and all it's stars to look at the instrument in her lap. Her hands tenderly moved along its woody surface. Then she raised it and started to play. The melody filled the air with touching sadness as a note after a note left her violin. Her heart was in the music.   
The music was her heart.  
  
  
  
"I'll tell you a little story I heard when I was young.   
There was once a girl and a boy. The boy was a lot older than the girl and he took care of her when she was little. They loved each other deeply then.  
One day the boy had to leave the girl. The girl cried days and days for him, but he didn't return. After the girl had grown she started to look for him. All over their homeland, but she never found him.   
When finally their paths met again, the harshness of the world had already changed the boy. He had seen and been too much. He jaded his heart, believing that there was no other way to continue living. He lost his capability to love the girl who cried for his lost heart for years, never succeeding to reach it.  
And then she died.  
But her spirit could not rest, it's purpose not yet fulfilled so she started travelling all over the world to find a way heal the broken heart of the boy, to give him his life back.  
The story doesn't tell if she found what she was looking for or if she still wanders in the endless time."  
A tear slid down her pale cheek as she stared into nothingness.  
  
  
  
She looked at him, his broad back and black hair in the matter of fact. He was beautiful, inside outside. But he did not understand it, nor would he accept it if someone told it to him. He was alone, his loneliness and pain screamed to be noticed, screamed to be erased. But he didn't let them disappear. He clung to them because he believed that they were all he deserved.  
He meditated. But not to reach the solution to his problems, to escape them.   
He didn't notice her. People usually didn't. It wasn't new to her; she had lived with it about 10 years.  
Years...   
They had no meaning to her anymore; she had long since stopped counting them. She only wished for a rest, she was so tired.  
She moved her hand, the violin hit the wall softly. The man jumped and turned fast, surprised. His black eyes slid almost closed as his brains worked, tried to find a reason why he hadn't noticed her. Was he lacking practice so much?  
"The dinner is ready." she said and left as quietly as she had arrived.  
  
  
  
It was quiet and peaceful but she found no comfort in them. She was alone, more alone than ever in her life. She wished for someone to hold her, to warm her in this cold existence. She wished for a place in the suns warmth. She looked at her shaking hand. She didn't have much more time before she would be gone but still here. Forever walking in the air.  
She tightened her hold of the violin, the only thing keeping her still here where she no longer belonged. The violin and her heart.   
  
  
  
The hallway ended to a room that wasn't used as a guestroom. No one was near, so without anyone seeing, she stepped inside. A futon, small closet and a pair of dusty, years old clothing on the floor next to the futon. The clothing was blue, the tie to the waist pink. Her eyes laid on it for a second before continuing to search through the drawers.   
Kunais, another clothing, a comp, and hair tie. Women's things.  
Someone was coming, she knew. But didn't care.  
A small storybook, a reminder of old times, fell from her hands to floor. The person about to go to the next room stopped, turned and walked into the room not used for over 11 years.  
She knew it was he even before he entered and spoke.  
"What are you doing here?" he said and glanced at the open drawers, his anger flaring. She only looked at him calmly and answered with a question. "Whose room is this? It's dusty, clearly not used for some time."  
"The room is Misao's and you have no reason to be here. Leave."  
Not caring about the commanding tone in his voice, she looked around. "How long has she been dead?" The man almost choked at the question. "She is not dead," he said. She turned her eyes back to the contest of the drawers. "How do you know? Has she been in contact with you?"  
He changed his posture into defending one without noticing it. "No, but she knows how to take care of herself." his voice told her how much he wanted her to believe him, how much he himself wanted to believe in those words.  
She nodded closing the drawers and then she turned to him. Challenging him with her eyes. "What about diseases and accidents? Even the strongest can't win against those."  
His eyes closed for a second before he talked. "Leave."  
She looked at him and walked out. But not without stopping at the door.   
"How long has she been dead?"   
  
  
  
She sat in the garden again, the moonlight washing her clean and pure. The time was almost over, her strength gone. But she still had something to do, she could not leave yet. The violin had been as light as a feather before, but now it felt so heavy.   
She heard a sound of footsteps getting closer to her. She knew who it was even before she saw him or heard him speak.  
"It's cold. You may catch a cold if you stay out." he spoke with a voice as cold as the night. She knew he didn't like her but it didn't matter. There was something that she had to do.  
  
She took her violin and started playing. The music waved a spider's web around him and he was caught in it, in her heart. She turned slowly to look at him. He had closed his eyes to concentrate only to the music. And she continued playing until she no longer had to. She had waved her heart around him with binds stronger than his will. They would not keep him trapped forever, but they would last long enough for her to do what she had to.  
She stopped playing, but in his heart the music only dimmed a bit. He opened his eyes to look at her at the woman who dared to disturb him time after time and still strangely drew him to her. What he saw surprised him.  
  
They were no longer in the garden. They were standing in a forest of cherry trees blossoming beautifully. He saw huge wall somewhere in the distance on the left. On the right he saw only trees after trees. Sun shone through the leaves all around him, them.   
  
She stood only few feet away from him and somehow it seemed as if the sun was shining right trough her. She was looking very serious and distant as she stared at the trees. The violin she usually carried everywhere with her wasn't now here, but he could still hear its sound in the air enveloping him.  
  
She turned her head to look at him, her sad eyes piercing right through his every defence, leaving him feel unusually open. He waited for her to talk, to tell him where they were and why. But she was silent, looking more and more fragile all the time. It was as if she was disappearing right before his very eyes. Leaving him all alone.  
  
"Where are we?" he finally managed to speak, to break the silence. She walked a few steps closer. *In your heart. * She didn't even open her mouth to speak. He looked at her confused and stepped back to create some distance between them.   
  
She only smiled faintly at his discomfort. *See those walls surrounding this beautiful place? You have created them to make sure no one gets here. A pity, your heart is so beautiful and you won't share it with others, you don't let them see it. You don't even understand it yourself. * She looked at the trees around them and then at the trees close to the wall. The ones surrounding them were in full bloom, but the ones near the wall were dead. She looked at them sadly. *You could give those trees a new change to live if you wanted to. Everything dies only to live again.*  
  
He looked at her nervously, not understanding her. She looked just sad, very sad. *I wanted to help those trees to bloom once again, but you didn't let me. That great wall you have built to protect yourself stopped me. I tried to get through, I tried to jump over... I tried everything! ...But nothing worked. * she started sniffling. Tears slid down her cheeks and she wiped them away with her hand. *Kami-sama help me, I tried. Till I died.* She was now sobbing openly looking at him. *Aoshi-sama.*  
  
He had known it already some time, but he had never truly believed it. He had known who she was, even what she was. Many things had given her away, but he had stubbornly stopped himself from realising it. "Misao..." It was no question.   
The woman smiled gently. *Only a shadow. Nothing more anymore.*  
  
Aoshi stepped forward extending his hand towards Misao, who just stood still and smiled sadly. Aoshi's hand slipped trough her.  
  
*As I said, only a shadow. And I have to leave soon, this world is no longer mine. I have no place in here. The only reason I still exist in here is you. I couldn't leave before showing this to you, not could I show this until you were ready. Until I was ready.*  
  
Pain and fear, she was going to leave him, again. He would be all alone. "Please, don't leave, not yet." It was the first time Shinomori Aoshi ever pleaded for something. Her absence from his life had thought him just how deep his feelings for her were.  
  
Misao smiled. *I have to, but don't worry. I am in your heart now and I will always be here. You won't be alone. When you wake up I'll be gone from your world, but I promise you, I won't leave you.*   
  
To Aoshi's surprise Misao laughed. *After working this long and this hard to get in your heart, you actually think I'll leave? Not a change!* Her smile spread and she started to dance around him.  
  
*I'll stay right here! I'll help those trees to bloom again! And then when you join me and leave your world, we can be together! For all eternity!* Misao stopped her dancing right before him. *But now you have to wake up. I won't be there when you wake up, but don't worry. You won't be alone.*   
  
Before Aoshi had time to say anything, Misao reached up and wrapped her ghostly being around him and pressed her lips against his.  
  
The forest dimmed and disappeared before Aoshi's eyes and everything turned black. Aoshi could feel the music and the peace of the forest start to disappear and with them disappeared also Misao.  
  
"Wait! I have to tell you--!"  
*Do not worry. I know. I love you, Aoshi.*  
  
  
  
Suddenly he was back in the garden. Alone, Misao had disappeared.   
During the following day he talked to others, but they seemed to have no memory of her ever being there.  
But he knew she had been there and that she still was, because during the next years he changed. The dead trees in his heart bloomed again and the barriers that kept others out were now crumbling away.  
Some day they would be together and nothing would stand in their way.  
  
  
  
Owari.  
~Tiian~ 


End file.
